The National Policy Roundtable on “Fiscal Federalism and India-EU FTA Readiness”, held on Tuesday, 6 October 2026 at The Oberoi, New Delhi, brought together policymakers, academics, industry representatives, trade experts and European stakeholders to examine how India’s federal institutional architecture and state-level capabilities will shape the effective implementation and utilisation of the India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

This analysis has been written by a fellow of the "International Summer School 2026 on Decentralization, Good Governance and Geopolitical Shifts" and draws on insights and discussions from the programme, jointly organized by the Hanns Seidel Foundation and the University of Passau. The Summer School brought together participants from more than 10 countries in Munich and Passau and examined how a changing global order is reshaping political institutions, the distribution of power and relations between national, regional and local levels of government. It focused on the role of decentralization in strengthening good governance in uncertain times.

The Youth for Governance Program (Y4G) is a nine-month fellowship implemented by Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement (GRAAM) in partnership with Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) India.